The Duke and Duchess of Sussex kicked off their “autumn term” tonight with a gala performance of Hamilton in support of Prince Harry’s Sentebale charity, which supports youth living with HIV in Lesotho and Botswana. The Tony- and Olivier Award-winning musical, which chronicles the life of American founding father Alexander Hamilton, features one of Harry’s own ancestors as a supporting character—and Kensington Palace’s resident jokester couldn’t resist poking fun at his family’s history during the event.
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After the show, Harry joined Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and the show’s cast onstage. Armed with the mic, Prince Harry sang the signature line from King George III’s three musical interludes in the show, “You say…” to the audience’s rapturous applause. He quickly waved off their cheers and pointed to Miranda, joking, “He did try, but I said no.” Harry went on to thank the showss cast and crew for the event and the audience for attending in support of Sentebale, for which they raised “a huge amount of money.” Harry closed with praise for the actors, noting, “I don’t know how you guys do it every night, over and over again” and “that was spectacular.” The Sun royal reporter Emily Andrews described the theater’s energy as “unreal.”
Video: #princeharry thanks the audience, cast and crew of @HamiltonMusical for raising money for @Sentebale (hundreds of thousands💰 tonight) & sends himself up by parodying the comedy King George III character. A very adept off-the-cuff riff. The energy in the theatre was UNREAL pic.twitter.com/hicafusHdJ
— Emily Andrews (@byEmilyAndrews) August 29, 2018
George III is, of course, Harry’s great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, and appears in the show to provide humorous commentary on the events taking place across the sea in Revolutionary-era America. Manuel discussed the genesis of the character’s inclusion in the show after the performance.
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Video: Lin-Manuel Miranda got a HUGE & rapturous reception as he came onto the stage. He said he’d written the King George song while on honeymoon & “smash cut to 2018 & I’m sitting next to his sixth great-grandson…!” #princeharry found it v funny @HamiltonWestEnd pic.twitter.com/v0kffJb1NS
— Emily Andrews (@byEmilyAndrews) August 29, 2018
Harry and Meghan also took time to pose with the cast, with Meghan telling one member that Prince Harry sings the soundtrack all the time, according to Andrews.
WOW!!! @HamiltonMusical was AMAZING!! What a rollercoaster! It’s #Meghan’s favourite show and I can see why! Harry & Meghan posed with the show’s cast backstage & they were delighted to meet them (note Harry holding his wife close…) pic.twitter.com/6zCTpFwaMP
— Emily Andrews (@byEmilyAndrews) August 29, 2018
#harry & #Meghan meet some of the cast & crew of @HamiltonWestEnd backstage. Boy was it hot. I’ve got to say that the show was totally inspirational and the actors were awesome. Totally amazing night. pic.twitter.com/Z5D9SV55Wz
— Emily Andrews (@byEmilyAndrews) August 29, 2018
The show is reportedly the Duchess of Sussex’s favorite musical. During intermission, she told Miranda how interesting it was to watch the British audience’s reaction to the character of King George versus America’s. Tonight’s performance marked the second time Harry and Meghan saw the show together. They took in a performance in London together in February of this year, and Meghan also saw the show with her good friend Priyanka Chopra in New York.
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Tonight’s event kicked off a week of engagements for the newlyweds, who will attend two galas in London next week in support of charities for which Prince Harry is patron.
This article originally appeared on Harper’s BAZAAR US.
